Friends, Adventures, and Memories
by WolfGirl519
Summary: A short series about a young girl dealing with the increasing pace of her life, fair-weather friends, and unexpected memories of the past that she might rather forget. Rating has changed due to mention of alcohol.
1. Memory Mountain

A short girl rides up to the edge of the tallest mountain in Nubes; her face obscured by the hood of her navy robe. At the edge she expertly dismounts her shire and commands him to stay. She slides her two-handed sword into its sheath on her back, between her mace and kite shield. She walks forward until it seems she may fall off the ledge. As she drinks in the view; the grassy fields, the lynx and the wild dogs, the mountains jutting out of the ground stretching off into the horizon; memories come flooding back.

*Flash*He rides her through the valleys between peaks, pointing out the different animals.

*Flash* He shows her the view from the tallest mountain and promises she won't fall.

*Flash* Him and Her, sitting at a campfire by the ledge, the fire illuminates his silver spiky wolf cut andhis jadeeyes.

*Flash* He sets off fireworks for her, white and blue light exploding all around.

*Flash* They sit at the edge of the peak talking as the sun rises in front of them turning the landscape to shades of blue, pink, and orange.

She peels off her hood to reveal a serious face that shows wisdom beyond her age. Inky black hair done up in a high new ponytail with bangs that brush her sad jet black eyes. She twists the ring on her left hand as she wonders what he would think if he knew, though she doubts he would even recognize her now. With her formerly short ivory hair now grown long and dyed black, once ultramarine eyes now also black, it was unlikely. Even her age had changed, now ten when before she was twenty-some, she had stopped counting after eighteen.

She reached into her robe and into her satchel and pulled out the bouquet from her wedding. The edges of the white rose petals now turning brown from 4 days without water caught and held her attention for but a second. She ripped the paper wrapping from the roses and held them tightly, letting the thorns dig into her skin. As the breeze picked up into a steady wind she threw the flowers off the mountain and into the wind, watching until they were out of sight. She looked at the paper for a moment before folding it into a paper airplane and throwing it as well.

A light drizzle began to fall just then, and she pulled her hood back up and walked back to her horse. "No time for self pity," She murmured to herself, "That good-for-nothing apprentice of mine can't do anything on his own," She mounted her shire and began riding back to the port in hopes of catching the boat to Uladh, hoping her husband wouldn't need her for a while. She did love him, but just needed some time, time to remember, and time to forget.

/Page break/

A/N: If people like this soon-to-be series, and I get any amount of reviews, I may expand it and make it longer. Thanks for reading ^_^


	2. Beer Troubles

A/N: I forgot last chapter to put a disclaimer so here it is; I do not own Mabinogi nor any of its affiliates. The views expressed in this fan fiction are not necessarily those of Nexon, and are most likely not those of the people represented by characters in this fic.

At around 10pm a small girl no older than 11 sat in the farthest corner of Bean Rua with two bottles of Devenish Black Beer in front of her, one empty and the other halfway there. 'If you're gonna get drunk, might as well buy the cheapest you can get,' she thought to herself, 'and if you're not looking to get drunk, why bother going to the only bar in Erin?' She then downed the rest of her beer in one swig, made a face, and quickly ordered another. Lucas saw the empty bottles, but bit his tongue and refrained from saying anything.

She wondered what he would think if he knew she was on her way to getting drunk off beer, let alone cheap beer. She had had alcohol before, but never beer, only champagne, wine, and cocktails. Her guild mates who had introduced her to alcoholic beverages wouldn't touch anything they considered cheap, and they were rather rich. She hated the taste of the beer, she hated the feeling of the fizz on her tongue, and the sour flavor was less than appealing. Even though, she supposed the drunken fuzziness and the resulting hangover would be much the same as with other drinks, and it would be much less of a stress on her gold pouch.

She was terrible at holding her liquor, and even this much made her thinking about things she'd rather not. She thought back to her wedding night, she wished she had made a large event out of it. She had always imagined her wedding to be so much more. In her mind it had been at twilight, she had worn a long white Selina Lady dress, a pair of Cores' Healer gloves and cloth shoes that were silver. Her husband wore a tux and whatever else men wear to look good. Afterwards there was a large reception and all her friends and guild mates were there, even her naïve apprentice had been there.

Of course this was entirely different from what really happened. She and her fiancé at the time went to the chapel in the middle of the night wore whatever they had handy at the moment, and without fanfare or guests, eloped. They had not known each other very long or know very much about the other, but she loved him and he loved her. They just need to grow into love after, rather than before their marriage.

"Well," she mumbled and took a large swig of beer, "what's done is done, can't go back now,"

Just then the sound of the door opening jolted her from her thoughts; the top bolt needed oil and squeaked rather loudly whenever someone came in or went out of the pub. A boy about 15 or 16 walks in wearing a blue, white, and yellow Wis' Intelligence Suit, blue Wis' Intelligence boots, a blue and white headband holds back his spiky wolf cut. She stiffens and feels the blood drain from her face, 'Him,' she thinks.

His clothing screams I have money, I have connections. His physique yelled I am strong, I work hard. Though his demeanor whispered I am nice, I am helpful. He seemed nothing but content and calm. He walked over to Lucas at the bar and struck up a conversation with him. She strained to hear what they were saying but since she was so far from them she only caught bits and pieces.

He says, "…a girl…silver…ultra…blue torks'… or so…"

The barkeep shakes his head and says, "all night…nothing like…," He gestures towards her, "…slamming down…young for…"

"Well…I'll have…" and Lucas brings him some expensive looking drink.

She realizes in horror that they are discussing her. Filling in the blanks she interprets the conversation something like, "Have you seen a girl come in here tonight? She has long silver hair, aquamarine eyes and is probably wearing a blue torks' blacksmith suit. She's about 20 or so."

"The bartender replies, "No one like that, only one girl came in here all night. Her, over there, and she looks nothing like the description you gave me."

"Well thanks anyway, I'll have a grey goose and cranberry,"

He grabs the drink and takes a sip, then starts to walk over to her. She begins to panic. How the hell is she going to keep her identity from him, she had planned to contact him at some point but she wasn't ready to do this now.

He reaches the table and says, "Do you mind if I sit here, no lady should drink alone,"

Stalling she downs the rest of the bottle and gestures for Lucas to bring her another. Pushing her voice as high as it can go without seeming fake and replies slurring slightly, "Sure, why not,"

"So," he starts, "when you came here did you see a lady with long silver hair and ultramarine eyes?"

"Nope,"

"Oh, well, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"Drinkin', whats it look like?"

"I meant that you hardly look old enough to drink, and you seem troubled,"

"I is not troubled," She takes a sip of beer.

He sighed and shook his head, "Look, we got off on the wrong foot, let's start over. I'm Volvega, what's your name?" he said in an inviting voice. She racked her brain for a pseudonym and came up with nothing, so she tried to stall for a minute or two. She takes another gulp of the beer.

"Volvega, leader o' the Moonguard guild? Whys' you in a bar?"

He chuckled, "I thought it was obvious, I'm looking for someone. If you haven't seen her maybe you've heard of her, her name is Kinashi."

"I heard o' her some, justs rumors, gossips, and de like."

"Anything interesting?"

"No' muss, just tha' she wen' of' to esplore Iria,"

"Well that's not news to me, everyone is exploring nowadays. Oh, I never got your name,"

She was ready for this now, "Ish Kimako, I's nobody really. No accomplishmes, no grea' feas of strengs, cunnin', er skill." She polishes off the bottle and Lucas is ready with another.

"Maybe so, but some think that just making a living is a great accomplishment,"

"When yous a Milletian alls people tinks yous can do es figh' and kill tings," By now she had four empty bottles in front of her and one two thirds of the way there. Volvega took this and the fact that she was slurring quite badly now, almost to the point of incomprehensibility, and when she went for another mouthful of beer he said, "I think you've had enough to drink, maybe you should stop now."

She paused before the bottle reached her lips, mulled it over for a moment, and put it back down.

"Hows?" She asked as soberly as someone with almost 5 beers in their system can.

"Excuse me?"

"Hows did yous know where tha' lady yous lookin' fer wa' here?"

"Oh, I mailed her apprentice asking where she might be and if she would like to meet me. He told me she would be here,"

She fumed, 'That no-good apprentice of mine shall soon know the meaning of pain!' she thought. She stood up and said, "Wells, I'sa gonna go homes nows,"

"Would you like me to take you? It's rather late," She shook her head, took out her gold pouch and started counting out coins when Volvega interrupted, "Here, I'll get your tab, it's the least I can do to repay you for your company," She wasn't about to argue with anyone who wanted to buy stuff for her, so she let him and left the pub.

On her way out of town she stopped at the mailbox and wrote a letter to her apprentice:

My Dear Avorio,

I would like to meet you at the forest near Coil dungeon tomorrow at noon. I have some new things to teach you, and have a present for you. I wanted to congratulate you on being able to survive full month of training with me. Please don't be late.

Your Level-Headed Sensei,

Kinashi


End file.
